GROW - One Conversation At A Time

As leaders, many of us constantly wear the coaching “hat” when we are managing, guiding or mentoring our team members to achieve their goals and improve their performance. To do this, we often sit with our team members in coaching conversations.

Every so often, we come across team members who are less than cooperative during these conversations.

Here’s an example of a poorly managed coaching conversation:

Leader: “Recently, your work performance has dipped and you seem unmotivated. Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

Team Member: "I don't know, I’m facing some issues managing my work and members of my team are constantly missing in action."

Leader: "Well, you need to figure it out because we need that project wrapped as soon as possible. You need to do better."

Team Member: "I'm trying my best, but it's hard. I don't know what else to do."

Leader: "Well, you need to do more than just try. If your team members are not doing it, you need to do it yourself. It's that simple."

Team Member: "I understand, but I'm really struggling. I don't know what to do."

Leader: "Figure it out. That's your job. I can't hold your hand through this. You need to step up or step out."

Team Member: "Okay, I'll try harder."

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Does this sound familiar?

When a team member isn’t willing to open up and reveal what’s bothering them, or isn’t willing to take steps towards their own performance improvement, it could be extremely difficult to achieve a positive outcome from the coaching conversation. So, what should the leader or coach do?

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Effective Coaching Conversations Using the GROW Model

The GROW model is a popular framework of coaching that is one of the facilitative coaching methods to support the coachee towards achieving their goals.

Facilitative coaching encourages the team member or coachee to share their opinions and ideas openly; the leader or coach acts as an empathetic listener, paraphrases the coachee’s words and asks powerful questions in return.

In essence, the GROW model is a technique to guide the coachee towards self-discovery, self-improvement and increasing self-awareness. They are encouraged to take ownership of their learning and development, and to develop a plan of action that will help them achieve their goals.

How to Have Successful Coaching Conversations

GROW is an acronym which stands for Goals, Reality, Options and What’s Next. It is a structure and sequential process which the leader or coach uses to guide their team member towards identifying the problems and lead them to create their next steps or action plan.

Below are the steps to follow in the GROW coaching model:

1.?????Goals:

Work with the coachee to clarify and set goals for the coaching conversation you’re having.

Leader: “Recently, the project’s progress has slowed down a lot. Let’s take a moment to look at the reasons together and see if we can identify what’s blocking you from meeting the timeline we agreed upon.”

2.?????Reality:

Get the coachee to assess their current situation, and identify any obstacles, challenges, or limiting beliefs that may be blocking their progress. Use empathetic listening with your coachee, i.e. do not make judgments, offer advice or comment upon it. Just recap and repeat what they said.

Example:

Leader: “Can you share with me what difficulties you’re facing with the project right now?”

Coachee: “Yes. I’m having a difficult time with Client X. They are always delaying when I follow up with them, and I don’t know how to proceed on the project because I’m not receiving the green light to go to the next stage.”

Leader: “I’m hearing that you are feeling discouraged about the delays from the client and you’re also feeling helpless that the project is stuck at its current stage.”

Coachee: “Exactly! I am really at a loss what to do. Perhaps I should storm up to the client’s office and demand an answer!”

3.?????Options:

This is a process where the coach helps the coachee brainstorm and evaluate different options, strategies, and resources to help them overcome their challenges, leverage their strengths, and achieve their goals.

Leader: “Let’s look at some constructive ways to communicate with the client so that you can move forward on the project. What can you think of?”

Coachee: “Well, I could think of a few things. I thought of inviting the client out for coffee so we can have a casual chat in a less stressful environment. This could lead to better rapport between us, and the client will be more open and communicative about their side of things. Another thing I could do is to communicate the costs of the delay. When the project is squeezed into a tight timeline, our team can’t do a good job and deliver the outcome they wish to have.”

Leader: “Great! What about our team? I can see from the overall project project sheet. Is there anything you can do to mitigate the impact of the delays?”

Coachee: “Hmmm, the project is only at 50 percent completion, and the client hasn’t given any feedback yet so we don’t know if they’re happy with it. The team is working on other projects right now. Perhaps we could ask the client for a deadline extension so that the team doesn’t need to work overtime and weekends to deliver the project at an inhumane timeline. If the client is unwilling, then we may need to hire several freelancers to assist in the project in anticipation of the expected time crunch, and bill this additional cost to the client.”

4.?????What’s Next:

Invite the coachee to identify and commit to specific action steps that will enable them to make progress towards their goals, and track their progress over time.

Leader: “I think having a coffee chat with the client, and communicating the impacts of the delay is a wise move. When are you planning to do it?”

Coachee: “Let me call them after this and set an appointment for the following Monday.”

Leader: “Great! As for the team, I agree that you could optimise our team members for other projects at the moment. Hearing from the client before this, a deadline extension may not be possible, so your suggestion to hire freelancers sounds like it’s the best solution for now. Please make it clear to the client that this is an additional cost. How will you go about hiring them?”

Coachee: “I have recently signed up for a freelance job platform and I’ve been scouting for the right talents for our project. I can look into shortlisting a few by the end of next week, and discuss them with you.”

Leader: “This sounds good! I look forward to meeting you next week to hear your updates.”

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